


Wayhaught Prompt Haven

by pleasanthell



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-07-28 14:17:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7644232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pleasanthell/pseuds/pleasanthell





	1. Chapter 1

Doc Holiday sat back in a folding lawn chair, a pair of large binoculars pressed to his eyes. “And Agent Dolls takes the jack of clubs.” He looked down from the binoculars to an old leather bound journal in his hand where he was keeping score. “That makes a pair.” He marked it down, then looked down the line.

The field was covered in a thin layer of late winter snow. Several tarps had been lined up and all the shooters were laying on their stomachs, long-distance rifles pointing at the piece of wood, one hundred yards across the field.

“Deputy Haught, I believe it is your turn,” Doc announced. He smiled fondly at Nicole and Waverly, both laying close, Nicole’s rifle nearly completely forgotten as the two conspired in hushed whispers in the middle of their tarp.

Nicole looked up at Doc and smiled. “Okay.” She stole one last kiss and scooted over toward her rifle.

Wynonna flung her leg out and hit Waverly in the ankle, “Keep it in your pants. We’re playing for a big pot here.”

“We’re playing for a case of whiskey that I found in the cellar of Shorty’s.” Waverly grinned and looked through the sight of her gun.

“I know. I said bit pot.” Wynonna put her ear protection back on and looked through her scope. She had an inside straight. All she needed was a nine. She had been mentally keeping track of everyone else’s cards. Dolls was pretty much out of the game, having very little knowledge of poker and no interest in the pot. Nicole looked like she was going for a flush, which didn’t bother Wynonna because Nicole already had the four in her suit. She didn’t need the last one. Waverly could use the four in a full house, but Wynonna didn’t plan to give her little sister the chance. She loved Waverly, but there was a lot of whiskey involved.

Nicole lined up her shot, took a deep breath, then held it. Then she pulled the trigger.

Wynonna didn’t see the card with the new hole in it for a while. She was sure Nicole would go for the easy pick, but as she scanned the wooden board with playing cards stapled on it, the anticipation grew. What did Nicole shoot?

“No!” Wynonna pushed to her knees and threw off her ear protection. “Why did you shoot that one? It ruins your flush.”

Nicole smiled mischievously. “I must have missed.”

“All that whiskey,” Wynonna flopped back down behind her gun. She flippantly took aim at the deck of cards and shot at the highest card that would pair with one she already had. When she rolled onto her back. “You better share with me, Dolls.” She looked longingly at the wooden crate of whiskey sitting on the fence near the house, the tempting prize that was just beyond her reach.

“Hold on now,” Doc spoke as he wrote in his ledger. “We have one last shooter.” He nodded kindly to Waverly. “Your turn.”

Waverly looked through the scope of her gun. She scanned for her card. She could feel all eyes on her and when she saw what she wanted, she pulled the trigger. She shot a hole straight through the seven of diamonds.

Doc chuckled when he saw what she had. “Ms. Waverly Earp wins.”

“What?!” Wynonna’s exclamation echoed loudly through the field.

“You know, darlin’ if you had been paying a bit more attention you would have seen the other four at the other end of the board,” Doc pointed out.

“No way,” Wynonna looked through her scope and saw the one card that could have won her the whiskey. “Why didn’t I see that?”

“You were very fixated on the four of hearts,” Dolls added.

“I was not,” Wynonna wrinkled her forehead.

“You were whispering ‘four of hearts’ under your breath.” He rebutted.

Waverly sat up. “You also sang it once.” She looked over her shoulder at Nicole. “I told you she wouldn’t see it.”

“You were in on this?” Wynonna asked Nicole, who was packing up her gun.

Nicole winced and then shrugged helplessly. “I can’t say no to that face.”

Waverly’s grin was impish and playful. She stood up and offered her hand to Nicole. “C’mon. We have some whiskey to drink.”

They walked off together toward the house as Doc and Dolls chuckled quietly and Wynonna shook her head. “I feel cheated.”

She looked back toward the house and saw Waverly walk inside. Nicole was behind her with the crate, but paused to look back toward Wynonna. Their eyes met and Nicole smiled to her. She balanced the crate on one knee and took one bottle out. The bottle was neatly set down on the railing of the porch. Nicole winked at Wynonna and followed Waverly inside with the spoilers of her win.

Wynonna didn’t have a lot of friends, but there was a warm feeling in her chest, knowing that Nicole was one of them.

“I will bet you my car against that bottle of fine whiskey that I can beat you, three out of five hands of blackjack with a revolver from twenty paces.” Doc raised a serious eyebrow.

Wynonna felt on her hip and smirked when she felt Peacemaker, “You’re on.”


	2. Chapter 2

Waverly adjusted the accordion folder under her arm and the muffins in the paper bag in her hand. She used her newly free hand to knock on the door of apartment 2B.

She smiled at the brass numbers on the door. 2B. “Or not to be.” She giggled to herself as the door opened.

Nicole’s face lit up when she saw who was at her door. “Hey, babe.” She looked down the hallway behind Waverly, “Were you…talking to someone?”

“Oh,” Waverly shook her head and pointed at the door. “I was just…” She was just a little embarrassed about being caught making a dumb joke. She cleared her throat. “Uh, your apartment number is 2B so I though, you know to be or not to be.”

Nicole laughed lightly. “I know! I thought that too when I moved in.”

Waverly relaxed a bit, knowing that Nicole wasn’t going to tease her for it. She didn’t know why she thought Nicole would though. Nicole had never been anything, but delighted about Waverly’s sense of humor. She pushed up on her toes and kissed Nicole. “I thought I’d come over and bring some research. I’ve started putting all of the rituals, gatherings, and general ascensions into a calendar so we kind of know what to look forward to. October is going to be really busy.” Waverly walked into the apartment. The furniture was modern and everything about it was polar opposite of the homestead.

“Shit!” The exclamation came from the couch, across the open space.

Nicole closed the door and Waverly furrowed her brow. “Wynonna?”

The top of Wynonna’s head sunk down and there was a quiet, “No?”

Waverly took two steps toward the couch and saw that Nicole and Wynonna were racing cars on Nicole’s video game console. Waverly put her hands on her hips. “What happened to, ‘I can’t help research because I’m going to clean out the barn, sis’?”

“I think technically I called it the ‘creepy barn’,” Wynonna put her controller down on the glass coffee table next to Peacemaker. “And I was.” Wynonna extended her hand to Waverly for her to examine. “I even got a splinter in my favorite finger.” Waverly took her hand and saw the large splinter in her middle finger. “So I thought, I need help. You know who likes to help? Nicole. But she was on her way to lunch so I thought it would be rude to ask her to help.” Wynonna flopped back on the couch and looked at her splintered finger. “So I invited myself to lunch with her and as the acting head of the BBD in Purgatory, I decided that the…” She gestured to Nicole. “The….”

“Only detective in the newly formed Special Investigations Unit,” Nicole added.

“Yeah that,” Wynonna sat up. “That the joint anti-demon task force should do some team building.”

Waverly looked up at Nicole who just shrugged. She was about to chide Wynonna for shirking her chores when she realized what Wynonna has said. Her head whipped toward Nicole. “You got promoted?”

Nicole shyly put her hands in the pockets of her jeans. “I – yeah. I mean, it’s basically the same thing I was doing before. Nedley just wants his office to be more involved. I still –”

Waverly grabbed her neck and pulled her down into a kiss. Nicole smiled into it, pleased that Waverly was happy.

“Wait,” Waverly pulled away and looked seriously up at Nicole. “Do you still have to wear your uniform?”

“Yeah,” Nicole answered.

Waverly grinned. “Fantastic.”

Nicole laughed and Waverly kissed her again.

Wynonna let them finish celebrating before she interrupted. She stood up from the couch and slowly walked over to her sister. “So let’s see this doomsday calendar.”

Waverly excitedly set the according folder down on the kitchen table. She opened it. Inside, more folders were neatly lined up. She extracted one. “I made copies for both of you.” She handed one to Wynonna and looked up to give Nicole her end of the world calendar. But Nicole had gone into the kitchen. When she returned, she set a mug in front of Waverly. Waverly looked at all the little marshmallows floating around in her cocoa. She mouthed _thank you_ and handed Nicole the calendar.

Waverly picked up the cocoa and without even tasting it, she knew that Nicole had made her favorite. Dark chocolate cocoa with vanilla marshmallows. She took a sip and hummed in appreciation.

“Looks like we have an appointment tomorrow and then we’re free for the weekend,” Nicole looked over the calendar.

“Score!” Wynonna fist pumped and pointed to Nicole. Then she became less excited. “I was really excited to hang out with my friends, but I just realized that my only friends are,” she started counting on her fingers. “A guy in a spec ops black site, a hundred and thirty year old man who is pretty sure television is witchcraft, my baby sister, and my best friend who would rather spend time with my baby sister.”

“We can all do something together,” Nicole offered. She looked at Waverly who nodded encouragingly. They had both been doing their part to distract Wynonna from Dolls’ absence. “I was going to go into the city. I need some computer parts that no one in Purgatory sells. We could go…”

“Shopping!” Waverly clapped.

Wynonna looked less than thrilled with the prospect of shopping, but when she looked to Nicole, her friend just shrugged.

“Fine,” Wynonna huffed. “But we get to drink first.”


	3. Chapter 3

Wynonna wandered into the BBD office with a cup of coffee and a donut in her mouth. She tried to use her foot to unsuccessfully open the door and just when she was about to try to figure out how to hold her spare donut in her mouth, the door flew open.

Nicole stood on the other side, pale and panicked.

“What’s wrong?” Wynonna asked, shooting into the office for something that may have been holding her friend hostage. When she didn’t see anything, but every single gun that belonged to BBD disassembled and cleans, strewn out on every flat surface in the room, she turned back to Nicole. “What’s going on?”

“I’m freaking out,” Nicole confessed, walking quickly back to a desk chair and sitting back down. She started reassembling one of the more impressive guns that Dolls brought in. “Waverly’s birthday is on Friday and I have no idea what I’m going to get her.”

Wynonna let out a sigh and looked down. She was a little peeved that she had started freaking out for nothing, but she could see the real fear on Nicole’s face. She pushed aside some reloaded magazines and sat down on the desk. Before she could attempt to calm Nicole, her friend and fellow agent started talking.

“I mean, I started looking online a few weeks ago,” Nicole added. She looked up at Wynonna while still very impressively assembled a semi-automatic rifle without looking at it. “But…I don’t… I can’t…I really don’t want to mess this up.”

“Calm yourself,” Wynonna put her hand up to shut Nicole up. “I know for a fact, she’ll love anything you give her.”

“I just want to do something nice,” Nicole set the reassembled gun down and folded her hands in her lap. Her voice was low and earnest. “This year has been rough on her and she’s still…” A smile ticked up the corners of Nicole’s mouth. She couldn’t stop the smile taking over her face. When she met Wynonna’s eyes she added, “After everything, Waverly is still sunshine.”

Wynonna swallowed and nodded. Her baby sister was the most resilient person she’d ever met. She did deserve the best birthday present ever. “Oh shit.” She slid off of the desk and landed on her feet. “Let’s go shopping. I have to get something too.”

Nicole hopped up, ready to go as soon as she pulled on her coat. “Where are we going?”

“Liquor store?”

“We’re shopping for Waverly, not Wynonna.” Nicole bumped shoulders with Wynonna.

“Just remember what I likewhen it’s my birthday,” Wynonna chomped a hole in her second donut.

“I already got your birthday present,” Nicole opened the door for Wynonna. “It’s aging in a barrel in Kentucky and will be delivered to your doorstep on your birthday.”

Wynonna stopped cold and looked at Nicole. Genuine tears filled her eyes and she threw her arms around Nicole. “I love you.”

Nicole chuckled and patted Wynonna’s back. “You’re welcome.”

“What is going on?” Waverly’s voice barely got to them before the cold gust of wind from the open door of the station.

“If you don’t marry, Nicole, I will,” Wynonna stepped away from Nicole and wiped her nose on her sleeve.

“I’m impressed,” Waverly sauntered up to Nicole and gave her a greeting kiss. “The last thing Wynonna said ‘I love you’ to was Peacemaker.”

“I do my best,” Nicole stole one last kiss before Waverly fell back on her heels.

“Where are you two off to?” Waverly asked. Her dimpled smile was excited at the prospect of her sister and her girlfriend getting along well.

“I, um, we’re…” Nicole stumbled over her words.

Wynonna didn’t do much better. “We’re going to, uh, work. We’re going to do the work thing. Because that’s what we do. We work together.”

Waverly narrowed her eyes at Wynonna who could feel herself start to sweat under the scrutiny. But it was Nicole who broke first. “We’re going to get your birthday presents. I started looking a month ago, but I can’t find anything good enough for you.”

Waverly took Nicole’s hand and ran her thumbs over her knuckles. “Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to get me anything. Being with the people I love….that’ll be worth more than anything you could get me.”

“Still.” Nicole kissed the side of Waverly’s head. “I want it to be special.”

“Take me to lunch,” Waverly offered. “We’ll talk about it, okay?”

Nicole nodded. She welcomed the chance to get a little help, even from Waverly, herself.

=+=+=+

The lunch hadn’t helped much, but when Waverly’s birthday came, Nicole had pulled something together. She just hoped that Waverly liked it.

“Should we be here for this?” Doc Holiday asked, when Waverly picked up the box from Nicole. “I do not want to intrude upon a…an intimate gift between two lovers.”

“It’s not like that,” Nicole assured him. She glanced at Wynonna who had been integral in getting the gift together. Wynonna gave her an encouraging smile and Nicole shifted her attention back to Waverly.

“It’s really light,” Waverly commented as she tore off the wrapping paper. “I wonder what it could be.”

Nicole’s stomach got tight. She was really close to just asking Waverly not to open it and getting her something else later. But it was too late.

Waverly pulled open the top of the box. For a second, she didn’t know what to make of the contents. She reached inside and pulled out a printed form that had been filled out with her information. Under that form was another. There were five in total. They were all applications, all titled ‘Waverly Earp’ and all filled out meticulously by hand. She looked to the top of the pages for more information.

“Graduate Studies,” Waverly breathed out. She was about to look up at Nicole when she saw another piece of paper in the box. It was by itself. She picked it up with a trembling hand and tears in her eyes. It was a bank statement. A savings account titled ‘Waverly’s Tuition” had been opened and an almost five digit amount of money had been used to open it.

“I know it’s not much now.” Nicole licked her lips nervously. “But it’s enough for the initial payment for all those places. They’re all fully accredited correspondence graduate degrees.” Her was getting more nervous the more Waverly stayed silent. “I…I just thought-”

Finally, Waverly’s watery eyes met Nicole’s. She dropped the applications back in the box and threw her arms around Nicole’s neck. Tears trickled around their lips when Waverly kissed her. She could never kiss Nicole enough to thank her.

“How did you know?” Waverly whispered like they were the only ones in the room.

“I had found this gun belt online and I was looking through my browser history to see if I could find it. When you spent the night last week, you searched for schools.” Nicole kissed Waverly’s forehead. “I promise that I’ll get the money together for the rest of it. I already have it worked out with the bank.”

Waverly slid her arms around Nicole and hugged her tight. “Thank you.”

“I kind of feel like I should save this present for next year,” Wynonna looked at the small box in her hand. “Nothing is going to top that.”


	4. Chapter 4

Shorty’s had recently been seized by Nedley for criminal activity, and unbeknownst to him, revenant activity. But the revenants had cleared out after their fearless leader was sent back to hell. And always one to follow the book, Nedley auction off the property at the monthly and rarely attended public auction.

Doc had expressed interest in bidding on it, but Wynonna kept Peacemaker hidden under her crossed arms and pointed at Doc so that Waverly won the bar in the auction, uncontested and for hardly any money.

Waverly hadn’t done much to Shorty’s itself. She had always liked the rebellious and rustic charm it had. But as she was cleaning off the bar from a long night of serving the good people of Purgatory, she had a great idea. And since the police station was right around the corner, she wanted to share her great idea with one of her favorite people.

She closed up Shorty’s and hugged her oversized coat around herself. It was a short walk and when she got into the police station, she smiled upon seeing Nicole, sitting at the front desk.

But Nicole was preoccupied with someone on the phone. She didn’t look happy at all. In fact, she looked sick. Waverly listened to the conversation from the door, growing more and more worried.

“Yeah I – I know it’s a mess,” Nicole stared at the desk as she spoke. “I get- …I know that you- … It’s- … Paige – P-Paige, c’mon…- That’s _none_ of your business.” Nicole’s trepidation and low tone, grew angry and protective. “Don’t- please don’t…Paige-… hello?” Nicole looked at her phone and then sighed when she saw the call had ended. She put the phone down and dropped her head in her hands.

She only took a second to herself before putting on the smile and looking toward the door, “How can I help- …oh, hey Waverly.”

“What’s wrong?” Waverly walked to the desk and leaned on the front of it.

Nicole’s eyes dropped. She opened her mouth a few times to start talking, but nothing came out.

Waverly placed her hands on top of Nicole’s. “Are you okay? Who was that?”

“Um, my sister is in town.” Nicole met Waverly’s eyes.

Waverly’s immediate reaction was to smile, but the look on Nicole’s face made her smile fade. “Is that not a good thing?”

“I mean,” Nicole nodded, forcing a smile that was almost convincing. “I’m glad she’s here.” She put on her best smile and turned her hands over so she could hold Waverly’s hands. “Did you just come see me because you missed me or…?”

Waverly put Nicole’s sister problem in the back of her mind, wanting to talk about it more. She just didn’t want Nicole to be really uncomfortable. “Okay so, I was thinking, the apartments over Shorty’s are empty and I don’t know what the revenants did, but they knocked down one of the walls so I was thinking I could turn the upstairs into a hotel.” She grinned at the prospect. “It could be like five or six rooms, plus a little common area.”

“That’s a great idea,” Nicole’s smile turned genuine. She loved Waverly’s enthusiasm. She was so excited. “Let me know what I can do to help.”

Waverly dipped her head down and kissed her girlfriend. “Do you want me to take your sister to lunch while you work?”

“No,” Nicole’s answer was immediately. “No. I don’t want her anywhere near you.”

“Why not?” Waverly cocked her head. She wasn’t sure what it was, but immediately her reaction was thinking that Nicole was ashamed of her.

“No,” Nicole stood up and quickly stepped around the desk. She wrapped her arms around Waverly. “It’s not you. I promise. It’s her. She’s… very intense.”

“You wanna talk about intense sisters?” Waverly looked up at Nicole. She wanted it to be light, but she could see Nicole was still bothered by it.

Nicole smiled and bowed her head to rest her forehead on Waverly’s. “You definitely win the intense sister award.”

“It’s not a competition,” Waverly quietly added. She reached up and touched Nicole’s face. “I’m sorry.”

The radio on Nicole’s hip spoke up before she could. She listened to the call and then kissed the top of Waverly’s head. “I gotta go.”

“I love you,” Waverly tilted her head up, waiting for a kiss on her lips. “Be safe.”

Waverly walked Nicole to her car and watched her drive off. She stood, pondering Nicole’s sister problem before turning around to go back to Shorty’s. She took her phone out while she walked and put her phone to her ear.

“Hey baby girl,” Wynonna answered. “What’s up?”

Waverly started explaining her idea for the hotel above Shorty’s. She wandered slowly back toward Shorty’s, having to get her Jeep from the alley behind it.

Wynonna was in the middle of questioning her about the damage upstairs when Waverly spotted a woman walking around downtown looking lost. It didn’t take her long to realize that it was Nicole’s sister. They were about the same height and had the same shade of red hair. But where Nicole’s eyes were kind and her features were soft, her sister looked hard and agitated. She was wearing a tan suit under a grey wool coat that looked out of place in downtown Purgatory.

“I’ll call you back,” Waverly hung up before Wynonna could answer her. She pocketed her phone and approached the woman. “Hey, hi. Are you lost?”

“As hard as it is to get lost in a town this small, I think I am.”

“Um, I’m Waverly.” She smiled and offered her hand.

“Paige,” the woman shook Waverly’s hand and then looked around. “I’m looking for somewhere to get a drink about here.”

“Well,” Waverly looked down the street where Nicole had driven off. “I just closed the bar, but I guess I could open for a guest in town.”

Paige moved toward the door and impatiently waited for Waverly to unlock Shorty’s. Waverly walked in first and let Paige move in at her own pace. She slid behind the bar and took off her coat.

Paige looked around, not speaking, but not looking particularly enthusiastic about the inside of Shorty’s. She sat down at the bar and rested her chin in her hand. Her attire was in stark contrast to her surroundings. “What are the odds that you know how to make an Old Fashioned?”

“If it’s got whiskey in it, I know how to make it,” Waverly hung up her coat and got to the bar. She started mixing the drink and asked, “What brings you to Purgatory?”

“For whatever reason, my sister decided to leave the city and move out here to be a…cop? Sheriff? I don’t know.” She waved away the end of her sentence. “I don’t understand why.”

“Purgatory is nice,” Waverly defended her hometown, but knew Paige wouldn’t be receptive to it. “You’re Nicole’s sister?” She asked the question she knew the answer to.

“Yeah,” Paige looked at the drink that Waverly was making. “I suppose she has to come in her often.” Paige gestured with her crossed leg toward a hole in the wall where Wynonna had hurled a billiard ball at Doc’s head for insulting her jeans.

“That was a…friendly disagreement,” Waverly placed the drink down in front of Paige. “You just in town visiting your sister?”

“It’s a business trip of sorts,” Paige answered taking a long, deep sip of her drink before putting it down. “She needs to come home and work for my company.”

“Why is that?” Waverly leaned on the bar toward Paige. “She seems happy here.”

“She’s not,” Paige shook her head. “She doesn’t like small towns. Never has. She’s just doing this to piss off our parents, but it’s time for her to come home.” She polished off her drink and signaled for another one. “I can’t keep another accountant to save my life.”

“Nicole was an accountant?” Waverly raised her eyebrows. She turned away to make Paige another drink. She remembered one night when she was doing the books for Shorty’s and explained to Nicole what she was doing like Nicole had no idea. Nicole was so sweet about it and listened to her whole explanation without comment.

“Best accountant our company has ever had,” Paige huffed. “And the only one to turn down six figures to become a cop in Nowheresville.”

Waverly choked on air. She grabbed a bottle of water from under the bar and gulped it down. “Six figures?”

“Stupid right?” Paige gave up on sipping her drink and just gulped it down. She slapped down a twenty and stood up. “So, if you’ll point me to the police station, I’ll go collect my sister and we’ll be out of here.”

“Um, I can’t…” Waverly’s mouth went dry. “She just left on a call and, I think she’s happy here.”

Paige leaned on the bar and looked hard at Waverly, studying her. Then her face fell back in realization. “Oh, you’re dating her aren’t you?” Paige stood up and threw her jacket over her shoulders. “Well, you might make this sell a little harder, but if I can convince her to leave a Lithuanian supermodel heiress, I’m sure the local barmaid won’t be any harder. No offence.”

Waverly didn’t have words. She just watched Paige walk out of her bar, red hair fluttering behind her.

She felt sick. Waverly dropped her head onto the bar and closed her eyes.

Her phone rang in her back pocket and she was hesitant to pull it out. She wasn’t in the mood for company. Paige was a black hole for all good things and Waverly just needed a minute. But her phone rang again and she pulled it out assuming revenant trouble.

It was Wynonna and Waverly answered, “What?”

“Wave,” Wynonna’s voice was small and cautious. It wasn’t the snappy reaction she usually got to answering the phone ‘what?’.

Waverly’s nauseated stomach dropped to her knees. Something was really wrong. “What happened?”

“Everyone is still alive,” Wynonna started out very cautiously. “BBD went to check on some suspicious revenant activity. Nicole and Doc got hurt. They’re okay now…”

“Are you at the hospital?” Waverly grabbed her keys and ran to the back door.

When she ran down the all too familiar halls of the hospital, she saw Doc with his arm in the sling, pressing buttons on a vending machine, trying to get it to work. He kicked the bottom of it when nothing happened.

“Doc,” Waverly slid up next to him.

He turned to her. “I believe this machine just swindled me out of my dollar.”

Waverly pressed the change return button and his change fell out. “Where’s Nicole?”

He pointed down the hallway and got his change out. “Room Fifteen.” He touched her shoulder. “She’s alright. It looks worse than it is.”

Somehow, his words weren’t comforting. Waverly walked quickly into the room and found Nicole sitting on the edge of the bed in nothing but a sports bra and heavily bandaged abdomen. The gauze was already starting to spot, small brownish-red in a diagonal line from the top right to the bottom left of her torso. Tears clouded her eyes when she looked into the room.

Nicole spotted Waverly and then looked to Wynonna who was lurking in the corner. “I asked you not to call her.”

“She’s my sister,” Wynonna shrugged.

“I’m fine,” Nicole stood from the bed and moved to Waverly.

Waverly sniffled and rubbed her face. She folded into Nicole, careful not to touch the bandage. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“I’m fine,” Nicole held Waverly to her chest. “I’m fine.”

Waverly took a step back and looked Nicole over. “What happened?”

“Some kind of weird werewolf kind of revenant,” Wynonna answered. “He’s back in hell, but not before he scratched the shit out of Doc and Nicole.” Wynonna shook her head. “He was coming right at me and Nicole just-” Wynonna waved her hand. “Tackled him like some kind of idiot.”

Nicole grinned and shrugged. Wynonna shared her smile although she wished Nicole hadn’t gotten hurt.

“I’m going to go get some burgers,” Wynonna announced. She checked with Nicole who nodded. Waverly didn’t even look at her.

Waverly gently prodded Nicole to the bed and sat her down. She made Nicole lay down and checked her bandage before curling up next to her in the bed.

“I’m really okay,” Nicole assured Waverly who seemed more worried than usual.

Waverly rested her head on Nicole’s shoulder. “I met your sister today.”

“What?” Nicole picked her head up, but dropped it back down when the stress on her abs made pain ripple through her body.

Waverly sat up and put one arm on the other side of the bed next to Nicole’s hips. “She was lost and looking for somewhere to drink. I let her in Shorty’s.”

“Oh boy,” Nicole placed her hand on Waverly’s forearm. “What did she say?”

“You left a six figure job and a Lithuanian supermodel heiress,” Waverly looked down at Nicole’s torso. “And a job that doesn’t involve werewolves.”

“She’s coming to take me back to the city?” Nicole raised an eyebrow. “She does this once a year. She comes to my apartment, insults everything about my life and tries to get me to come back.”

“Why are you here?” Waverly asked. She licked her lips, scared and worried. “The city? Six figures? Lithuanian supermodel heiresses?”

“I don’t want to be an accountant. I want to help people,” Nicole gestured to her torso. “And this helps people. Literally, saves lives.” She picked up Waverly’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “And Elena and I broke up because we weren’t compatible.” She let go of Waverly’s hand and gently touched her face. “You’re everything, Wave. I don’t need a lot of money. I just need this job and you.”

 Waverly looked all over Nicole’s face for a sign of deceit. She’d been lied to so many times by the guys she had dated before. She knew it wasn’t fair to Nicole to bring her old insecurities into her relationship, but she couldn’t help it. But there was only honesty in her face. Honestly and absolute adoration.

She turned her eyes to the small dots of blood that were steadily growing. She looked around for more bandages so she could change the dressing. “You’re bleeding a lot.”

Nicole nodded. “It’s okay though. I’m okay. I promise.” She stopped Waverly from looking around. “I’m sorry about my sister.”

“You don’t have to apologize for me.” Paige had appeared in the doorway. “I’m certainly not.”

Nicole closed her eyes and let her head fall back on the pillow.

Waverly tensed at the sound of the voice that had caused her so much doubt. She sat up straighter on Nicole’s bed, but kept her hand on Nicole’s thigh. “Paige.”

“Waverly,” Paige nodded. She looked her sister over. “Still think being a cop is a good idea.”

“It was just a coyote,” Nicole answered. “Freak accident.”

Her sister looked less than impressed. “I’ve called a moving company. They’ll be here tomorrow.”

“No,” Nicole struggled to sit up. “I’m not leaving.”

“Don’t sit up,” Waverly placed her hand on Nicole’s stomach. She looked up at Paige, “Please don’t do this right now. She doesn’t need this.” She stood from the bed. “We can talk about it tomorrow.” She didn’t really ever want to talk about it again, but she just need Paige to leave or at least drop her pursuit.

“How long are you going to keep up this charade?” Paige looked around Waverly at Nicole. “This sheriff deputy, pretending to save the day, hero bullshit.”

“She is a hero,” Waverly stood up before Nicole could speak. She took a step toward Paige, her small frame seeming to grow larger with every step. “She has saved more lives than you could ever dream of. She helps people who need it and sometimes it’s small, but she _is_ helping. She’s the kindest person I’ve ever met and she is a warm fire on a cold winter day.” Her words were coming out like machine gun fire, rapid burst of sentences through the sterile hospital air. “Nicole Haught is sweet and sincere and I don’t know how she could be related to you, but Nicole is going to stay here, where she belongs, for as long as she would like to. And if you try to force her to leave, you will have a long line of people to get through and I am the first in that line.”

Paige was stunned at the onslaught. She didn’t seem to be someone a lot of people said no to, so Waverly gave her a minute to digest what she had just said.

Then Paige cleared her throat and straightened her spine. “What happens when you break up and she’s stuck in this town because of you?”

“Hey!” Nicole jumped up from the bed and slid between Waverly and Paige. Waverly gently touched her arm, trying to coax her back in bed, but her girlfriend was enraged and there was no stopping her.

“Don’t you _ever_ talk to Waverly like that,” Nicole reached back to make sure Waverly was still there and kept her hand on Waverly’s arm. “I love her. More than I’ve ever love anyone else. More than the parade of women you keep trying to pair me off with.” She sighed, tired and hurting. “You can say whatever you want to me, but if you aren’t going to respect Waverly, then you can leave.”

She seemed to have beat Paige down enough so that her sister closed her coat and took a deep breath. “The board won’t be happy.”

“I don’t care,” Nicole answered.

Then, without another word, Paige left.

“I am so sorry,” Nicole immediately started apologizing to Waverly. “That didn’t-”

Waverly shook her head, interrupting Nicole. She took her hands and led her back to the bed. “Lie down please.”

Nicole carefully did as she was told and watched Waverly sit down on the bed next to her hip. “I did have a sister that shot you. I think I can handle your sister.”

Nicole grinned. “I honestly forgot about that.”

“How could you forget being shot?” Waverly giggled and let her fingers glide over Nicole’s forearm.

“Well, I do remember what you told Wynonna before Willa shot me,” Nicole picked up her girlfriend’s hand and slipped her fingers between Waverly’s.

Waverly smiled at the admission. She looked at Nicole. She watched Nicole smile and saw all the love she had for Nicole reflected back at her. She didn’t want Nicole to ever leave. Nicole was warm and kind and home.

“I love you more now than I did then.” Waverly pulled Nicole’s hand up and pressed a kiss to the outside of ther thumb.

“Me too.” Nicole used her free hand to toy with the end of Waverly’s hair. “Purgatory has it’s challenges, but I would never leave you unless you wanted me to.”

Waverly smiled and hummed. She leaned down and kissed Nicole and then whispered just an inch from her face, “Then you’re never leaving.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Waverly, it’s over.” Nicole sniffled. She was exasperated. She was tired. She was drained and she just wanted it to be over. She couldn’t stand the look on Waverly’s face. She watched a tear roll over the fresh scratch on her face.

Waverly’s eyes teared up. “Give me a reason.” When Nicole started to walk away Waverly grabbed her arm and jerked her back. “Give me a reason!”

Nicole couldn’t look at Waverly because she knew if she did, she wouldn’t walk away and she had to. She _had_ to. She did turn her head to the side and caught Waverly’s silhouette against the light coming in from the open door of Shorty’s. She softly whispered, “Goodbye, Wave.”

The tears trickled down Waverly’s face as she watched Nicole walk away.

Nicole went straight to the police station and sat down behind her desk. She dumped her arms onto the weathered wood and leaned hard on it. She stared hard at the grains in the wood and wished beyond everything that she could take back what she just said.

When the room grew chilled and the lights dimmed, she closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see it. She was so angry. “I did it, okay? Now leave Waverly alone.”

The voice that answered was metallic, part way between a whisper and a hiss. “You broke her heart.”

Even with her eyes closed, she knew where he was. The black wisp of smoke that sometimes looked like a human, but most of the time hovered around her shoulders like a shawl that never quite settled. She could feel the words in her ear as it repeated itself. “You broke her heart.”

“I know I did,” Nicole slammed her hand on the desk. She reined in her anger and took a deep breath. She sighed. “Are you going to leave her alone or not?”

“Now you belong to me.”

A cold chill swept across her cheek and she couldn’t help, but think of a long, gnarled finger caressing her face. She gritted her teeth. It made her skin crawl. “Just leave Waverly alone.” The waver in her voice showed the cracks in her bravado.

She could feel the holster on her gun unclip and the gun lift from her belt. It was part of the demon’s plan that hadn’t been revealed. She pushed away from the black mist and stood from her chair. She saw that the mist had taken the form of a human, yellowed eyes and bared teeth. He raised her gun, barrel facing her.

“You have to come with me.” He pulled the hammer back, readying the gun to be fired. “You will be my wife.”

“Not today.”

His head whipped to the side at the new voice in the room. Waverly stepped forward from the doorway of Nedley’s office, a large tome open in her hands. She started reading an incantation from the book while Dolls emerged behind her. He tossed a bag at the demon and it exploded into a fine dust before coating its torso.

The demon tried to shift back into mist, but couldn’t. He turned the gun toward Dolls and then back at Nicole. Nicole grabbed the demon’s wrist before he could point the gun at her and slammed his hand onto the desk, making him release her gun.

“Sorry pal, but you’re going on this honeymoon solo,” Wynonna opened the door to the evidence closet and stepped out with some confiscated sunglasses on and Peacemaker pointing at the demon’s head. She pulled the trigger and the bullet sailed through the demon’s head. The portal opened up under him and he was pulled into hell, swearing and promising to come back.

When the floor closed up, Nicole looked around at the rest of the BBD and Waverly. “Is that it?”

Dolls nodded. “That’s it. He’s gone. He won’t be attacking you or Waverly again.”

The area around Waverly’s eyes was still pink from the crying at the bar, but she looked so relieved when she saw Nicole. “Are you okay?” She closed the book and set it on the desk on her way to check on Nicole.

“I’m so sorry,” tears clouded Nicole’s vision. She was immediately apologetic. She hated what she had to say to Waverly to keep her safe. She hated how Waverly cried and how convincing it all was. She took Waverly’s face in her hands and slowly blinked. “I’m sorry.”

Waverly’s smiled. Tears gathered in her eyes when she looked at Nicole who was obviously distraught. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”

“I didn’t mean any of it,” Nicole started to ramble. “I just wanted to make it convincing. I wanted you to be safe. He attacked you because he wanted to make me his hell wife or something and I couldn’t  let you get hurt, especially not because of me. Waverly, I love-”

Waverly grabbed the front of Nicole’s shirt and pulled her down into a kiss. Waverly held Nicole in place for a good four seconds, kissing her and moving her hands to Nicole’s neck to caress her skin. When she let Nicole breathe on her own, she looked into Nicole’s eyes, “I love you too.”

“What about this?” Wynonna asked Dolls, stepping out of the evidence closet again with a leather jacket on that had an evidence tag attached to the sleeve.

Nicole looked up and saw what Wynonna was doing. “Hey, that’s evidence.”

“Oh come on. What kind of crime could it be…” She trailed off looking at the tag on the jacket. When she saw the crime, she quickly shed the jacket letting it drop to the floor. “Ew.”

Waverly took Nicole’s hand and pulled Nicole past Dolls. “Can Nicole have the rest of the day off?”

He nodded. “Of course. But be back first thing in the morning.”

They ended up back at the homestead in Waverly’s bed. They just lay there, looking at each other, not talking. Nicole knew what happened wasn’t real and that they’d staged the whole breakup, but the pain on Waverly’s face….she still couldn’t shake it. It looked so genuine.

“Nicole,” Waverly spoke softly, her words enticing Nicole out of her own thoughts. “You’re upset.” She paused. “Is it about the revenant?”

“So-sort of.” Nicole swallowed and refocused her eyes. They found Waverly staring tenderly at her. Waverly was worried. She didn’t want to worry Waverly. “It’s no big deal.”

“It is.” Waverly placed her hand on Nicole’s neck and adjusted her head on her pillow to be closer to Nicole. “Tell me.”

Nicole looked away from Waverly because just recalling the look on Waverly’s face gutted her. She closed her eyes and felt the hand on her neck leave. Waverly took both of her hands and kissed the back of her fingers, patiently and supportively waiting.

“You looked so hurt,” Nicole breathed out. “It looked so real.” She opened her eyes, barely able to see Nicole through tears. “I…It feels like we broke up and I’m…it feels empty.”

For a long time, Waverly didn’t say anything. She watched Nicole shatter in front of her. She scooted forward and pressed her forehead to Nicole’s. “It wasn’t real okay? I was pretending. I was thinking about how it would feel if it had been real because I never, ever want us to end.”

“I know it wasn’t real,” Nicole answered. She sniffled and avoided Waverly’s eyes. “It just felt like it.”

Waverly pushed up off of the bed and swung her leg over Nicole to straddle her hips. She rolled Nicole onto her back and took both of her hands, threading their fingers together. She pressed Nicole’s hands to her chest just over her heart. “This is real.” She let go of Nicole’s left hand and unfolded Nicole’s right hand. She kissed Nicole’s palm. “This is real.”

Nicole wanted to tell Waverly that she didn’t have to assure her what reality was. Nicole usually had a fairly tight grip, but the way Waverly was looking at her, so full of love and assurance, started to chip away at the hole the fake breakup had left.

Waverly kissed the inside of her wrist with a smile. She knew what she was doing was working and she would continue to show Nicole with kisses until all her doubts were gone. “This is real.” She slipped Nicole’s hand under her shirt and pressed her open palm to the skin over her ribs. She picked up Nicole’s other hand and repeated her actions.

She placed her hands on the bed next to Nicole’s head. “This is real. Right here. You and me. We are real.” She dipped her head down, kissing Nicole’s forehead. Then she kissed her cheek, then her neck. She ran trails of kisses up and down Nicole’s neck until the empty feeling was full. She kissed her face until Nicole could feel all the love Waverly had to give. She kissed Nicole’s lips until they were back to where they were before the revenant became obsessed with Nicole.

Nicole’s hands on Waverly’s sides moved up her back and curled around Waverly’s shoulders, wanting to hold her close. Waverly smiled against her lips, the touch one that she had grown used to. She collapsed on top of Nicole and they held on to each other, innocent and in love.


	6. Chapter 6

Nicole spun her hat around in her hands. She shouldn’t have come. It was the middle of the night.

The air outside was frigid and snow landed softly in her hair, melting away immediately. The only warm part of her body was the back of her legs, pressed against the still warm engine of her patrol car.

The past few hours played in her mind, vivid and tactile. It had been a revenant of sorts, but not the kind she had ever seen before. It was tall and long with spiny, gnarled fingers. The ends of its fingers were sharpened to a point and it had been inches away from her face. Probably just an inch. Maybe less. She had been so close to not making it home.

She did manage to shoot it a few times and escape before Wynonna had ridden in on a motorcycle to save the day. Dolls had taken a few swipes with a demon claw, but nothing life threatening. Nicole made sure he was okay before leaving Wynonna to take care of him.

Then she drove. Nicole drove for over an hour. She stopped at a gas station to fill up and chatted with the overnight clerk. He gave her a cup of coffee for the road. She took it, but the cup was still in her car, cold and untouched. She was too jittery to drink it.

It made sense that she ended up at the Homestead. It was the only place in the town that was safe. It was the only place in town that the revenants couldn’t get her. Especially the one that she had seen Peacemaker send to hell. She closed her eyes and bowed her head.

She wasn’t there for whatever bedrock protected the Homestead. She was there because her safety was inside the house, probably curled up in the bed, asleep. Her safe place, her home, her Waverly.

And she knew it was a selfish thing to show up in the middle of the night. Waverly had been up for days tracking the revenant and researching where it would go. The only reason she didn’t accompany the Black Badge Division to the revenant’s current nest was because no one thought it would go back. But it did. It attacked Nicole and she still couldn’t shake the quivering in her chest of being so close to death, she could feel it’s breath on her neck.

Her hand when to her gun when she heard metal and metal scraping. She looked first toward the darkened road behind her, then toward the house where she could see the windows glowing. The front door opened and Waverly stood in the opening, wearing purple pajama pants and Nicole’s own college sweatshirt.

“Are you going to stand out there all night?” Waverly asked, a light smile on her face.

Nicole shyly ducked her head. She shoulder have known Waverly would know she was there. She didn’t move from the perch on her car. “I didn’t want to wake you.”

“You didn’t,” Waverly extended her hand out the door. “Come here.”

Nicole pushed off of the car and walked toward the house. It was freezing outside, but the warm started spreading through her body the closer she got. She figured Waverly had that effect on people.

Waverly took her hand when she got close enough and pulled her more quickly inside. “You’re freezing.”

“I’ve been outside for a while,” Nicole confessed.

“I know.” Waverly looked back at Nicole. She pulled Nicole through the house, through her bedroom, and into her bathroom where the clawfoot tub was full of steaming, rose colored water. She let go of Nicole and took the hat out of her hand. “I heard you had a rough day.”

Nicole blinked once before she realized the flickering candles all around the bathroom were blurry from tears in her eyes. She looked down and blinked them away as Waverly placed her hat on the hook over the door.

But when Waverly turned back around, she could see how affected Nicole was. She had panicked when Wynonna called her to tell her what happened and panicked a little more when she couldn’t get Nicole on her phone the first two times. On the third try, Dolls answered, explaining that Nicole had left her phone at the station. She paced anxiously around the house and thought about getting in her Jeep to go find Nicole, but she calmed, sure that Nicole would eventually find her way to the Homestead.

Waverly pushed up on her toes and gently kissed Nicole. Although she wasn’t scared anymore that Nicole was hurt or dead, she was so thankful that Nicole was with her, standing in front of her.

Waverly continued to kiss Nicole as she unbuttoned her shirt. When it was open, she pushed it off of Nicole’s shoulders. Then she unfastened her bulletproof vest, peeled off her undershirt and rid Nicole of boots, her duty belt, and pants. She paused when Nicole was in her bra and underwear. They’d had sex before. They had had a lot of sex. A lot. But it seemed like a much more intimate thing.

She placed her hands on Nicole’s sides and stroked the chilled skin with her thumbs. “I’m going to go make you some tea.” She kissed Nicole, careful not to touch her anywhere, but where her hands had already lay.

Nicole smiled when Waverly scurried out. They had become deeply intimate with each other’s bodies, but Waverly still wanted to respect her modest. She smiled wider realizing that she loved Waverly that much more.

When Waverly returned, Nicole was in the bath, her eyes closed, and her shoulders relaxed. She handed Nicole her tea and rolled her pants up to her knees. She pressed play on her iPod that had been docked in the speakers next to the shower, then carefully stepped into the bath on either side of Nicole. She sat on the edge of the tub behind her girlfriend and started to unpin her hair.

“Wave,” Nicole breathed out.

“Hmm?” Waverly hummed, continuing to free Nicole’s hair from its duty braid.

 Nicole closed her eyes when Waverly’s fingers slipped effortlessly into her hair. “Thank you.”

Waverly smiled. No matter what things she did for Nicole, small or large, she was always very grateful. She dipped her head down and kissed the top of Nicole’s head, not sure how to answer her.

Neither one spoke as Nicole bathed. Waverly walked in and out of the room a few times to refresh Nicole’s tea and get one for herself. She sat next to the bathtub and waited for Nicole to tell the story of her adventure, but it just couldn’t fight its way out of Nicole’s throat.

“It’s okay,” Waverly finally told her. She leaned on the side of the tub and dipped her finger in the water to check the temperature. “You don’t have to tell me.”

“C’mon, Wave,” Nicole looked guiltily into to the water. “I know you’re dying to know.”

Waverly’s hand disappeared into the water and pulled back out with Nicole’s hand in tow. She turned Nicole’s hand and kissed the back of her fingers. “I can wait.”

The exhaustion and the emotions from the earlier mission bubbled over. She had been holding a lot in and Waverly’s uncensored and unwavering devotion pushed her over. She never felt so completely safe or so completely loved. Tears started to fall from her eyes and trickled down her cheeks, dropping into the ocean of water below.

The second she saw Nicole start to cry, Waverly teared up. She had always been a sympathetic cryer, but when Nicole cried she couldn’t help, but feel very deeply for her. She could see the fear and the exhaustion. She could see the yearning for some place to fall apart.

Nicole was done with the bath. She just wanted Waverly. Waverly went to the room to retrieve some clothes while Nicole dried herself off. Waverly tried to find some clothes that wouldn’t be comically small on her girlfriend. She settled on some sweatpants and a t-shirt. The pants were a little short, but Nicole didn’t mind.

Nicole quickly brushed her hair out while Waverly started a fire in her bedroom fireplace. There were some drawback to living in such an old house, but the fireplaces in each room was one of her favorite things. She used a long lighter to light some old notes under the log. She had been wrong about some things and felt better using the wasted paper as a firestarter than throw them away.

When she was sure the fire was started, she turned around and found Nicole already in her bed. She smiled very faintly, always loving that particular sight. She started at the foot of her bed and crawled up to the head before gathering Nicole in her arms.

“It was close,” Nicole breathed out. “It was…really close.”

Waverly didn’t want to think about how close she’d come to losing Nicole. Nicole had had several brushed with death over the past year, starting with Willa shooting her, and every single one rocked Waverly to her core. She didn’t know what she’d do without Nicole. She used to wonder how she smiled before she met Nicole. She wondered if her heart had ever really beat for anyone else or her stomach had ever really fluttered before.

“I know,” Waverly kissed Nicole’s forehead. She squeezed Nicole tighter, not sure if she would ever let go again.

For a long while, the fire crackling and the sounds of the forgotten music were the only noises.

The song changed and a few low bass beats changed the mood. The music was a slow, seductive beat that completely departed from the previous song. Nicole smiled against Waverly’s collarbone. The smile turned into a laugh that made Waverly smile.

Waverly ran her fingers through Nicole’s hair and looked down, finally catching dry eyes. “It must have switched playlists.”

“And what playlist is this?” Nicole grinned.

Waverly looked away from Nicole, but her smile grew mischievous. “Well, I was planning to take you out of town for dinner on Friday and then bring you back here…” She bashfully looked back at Nicole. “I believe this playlist is called ‘Woooo’.”

Nicole laughed heartily. She punctuated the laughter with a kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Waverly answered earnestly. She placed her hand on Nicole’s face and admired every detail and color that made up the eyes she loved so much.

Nicole’s eyes had lost all sadness and fear. She had returned to normal and Waverly found herself enveloped in Nicole’s joy. They smiled at each other for a long while before Nicole spoke. “Dance with me.”

“Dance?” Waverly asked.

Nicole pushed off of the bed and pulled Waverly up too. “C’mon. Let’s dance. I wouldn’t want to waste a perfectly good playlist.”

Waverly laughed and stood off of the bed into Nicole’s arms. “Okay, let’s dance.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Let go of my sister, revenant,” Wynonna stood still, Peacemaker trained on the demon holding her sister hostage.

Nicole shifted her weight, the shotgun getting heavy in her arms. Their standoff was about to surpass the five minute mark and they hadn’t made any headway with the revenant that was holding Waverly near the edge of a cliff that dropped into an icy lake below. It wasn’t a drop she thought Waverly could survive so she hoped that she could end the standoff peacefully. “Just let her go.”

“Yeah, and I’ll make your trip back to hell quick,” Wynonna added.

“I can make you some cookies before you go,” Waverly pulled helplessly at the arm around her neck, keeping her in place as a human shield. “Do you like snickerdoodles?”

The revenant shifted his eyes from Wynonna to Nicole. Then he looked over the edge. He wasn’t a particularly strong revenant, but he was fairly certain he could survive a fall into the lake. He was definitely sure he wouldn’t survive Peacemaker.

“Fuck it,” he muttered to himself. He picked up Waverly to protect him from Peacemaker and took a running jump off of the cliff.

“Waverly! “both Nicole and Wynonna screamed, running to the edge of the cliff to look down. Wynonna stopped at the edge, but Nicole kept going, dropping her shotgun and diving over the cliff.

“Nicole!” Wynonna yelled, reaching out like she could catch her best friend.

The revenant let go of Waverly as they fell, knowing he had a few seconds to prepare for the frigid watch that would most likely kill her upon impact.

In midair, Waverly turned onto her back and saw Nicole speeding toward her. Tears sprung to her eyes because she knew it was most likely the end for both of them. She could see her sister leaning over the cliff, screaming after them. It felt like slow motion when Nicole got to her. She saw Nicole smile a sad smile of someone resigning themselves to die with the love of their life. Nicole’s arms enveloped her and she held onto Nicole, not knowing what else to say, but, “I love you.”

As they fell, she felt their body positions change. Nicole had maneuvered herself to the bottom, traveling back first toward the surface of the lake.

Next to them, the revenant was trying to slow his fall, clawing at the air. Waverly looked at him from her place tucked in Nicole’s arms and heard Peacemaker go off. The revenant screamed and then disappeared just before the water.

“Hold your breath,” Nicole tucked her head down and kissed the top of Waverly’s head.

Waverly knew it was useless, but respected Nicole’s last words anyway. She closed her mouth, there was a loud roaring noise, and a second later they hit the water.

The force of the impact wasn’t as bad as she expected, in face it didn’t feel like she’d hit anything. When she opened her eyes, she saw that she and Nicole were underwater, but she wasn’t cold. She wasn’t wet. It looked like an invisible layer of air had grown from her skin, an invisible wet suit.

She looked around for Nicole, but saw her slowly floating downward in the water, her eyes closed and her body limp.

“No!” Waverly yelled into the small bit of air around her and started to swim down toward Nicole. Her insulation didn’t allow her to breath clean air so her lungs screamed for the surface, but she fought against them, swimming hard down to Nicole.

When she grabbed her girlfriend’s hand, her air bubble went away. The cold of the early spring lake hit her at once and made her lung ache. But the look of helplessness on Nicole brought her back. She had to save them both.

She gasped when her head broke the surface and she did her best to bring Nicole up with her. She had seen lifeguards on TV swim with people so she maneuvered her girlfriend as best she could before started to swim to the shore. Wynonna was running down the hill toward the lake and ran right into the water to help Waverly get Nicole out. They drug her up onto the short and Waverly felt for a pulse, but when her hand touched Nicole’s skin, she jerked her hand away.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” Wynonna asked.

“She’s warm,” Waverly furrowed her brow. “She’s...” She pressed her hands to Nicole’s face and her own frigid hands started to warm up, just touching Nicole.

Wynonna put her hand on Nicole’s forehead and felt how warm she was against the cold air. “Holy shit.”

Water started to run out of Nicole’s mouth and she violently coughed. On instinct, Waverly rolled Nicole on her side so the water would fall out. Nicole heaved a few times, but the only thing that came out was water. Then she flopped onto her back. “Oh man.”

“What happened?” Waverly asked. “We were...underwater and I was...dry?” Waverly put her arms around herself to try to keep herself warm.

Nicole shook her head. She rubbed her eyes and pushed up against the rocky beach. “I just...jumped.” She looked around. “Is the revenant gone?”

Wynonna nodded. “How did you not die?”

“I think...” Nicole looked down. “I don’t know. I just knew if I hit the water first, we’d be okay. I don’t...” Nicole looked down. She looked confused. “I think...Did I do something?”

“You s-saved me,” Waverly sputtered out, the cold water on her skin and the cold air around them penetrating her bones.

Nicole scrambled onto her knees and took off her jacket, but it was sopping wet and probably wouldn’t help. Then her hand brushed against her other hand and she looked alarmed. “I’m warm.”

“We know,” Wynonna sat back on her haunches. “Are you some kind of revenant? This whole time?”

“I don’t think so,” Nicole looked into the water and a flash of something hit her. Something warm and dry and bright and comforting. She fell back onto her ass. “Maybe? I don’t...know.”

“We’ll figure it out l-la-later,” Waverly’s whole body started shaking.

Nicole looked at her own hands and then started to move them to Waverly, but stopped midway, like she was scared Waverly wouldn’t want her to.

Waverly took both of Nicole’s hands and placed them on her face. She let out a sigh of relief, the warmth spreading through her face. It felt blissful and she needed more of it. She ripped open Nicole’s shirt and slipped her arms around Nicole’s bare torso.

Nicole started to figure out how it worked and let her shirt drop off of her arms before enveloping Waverly. “I don’t know what I am,” she whispered.

“Doesn’t matter,” Waverly whispered. “You saved me and I love you. I’m glad you’re okay.” She pressed her face to Nicole’s chest partially out of desperation for warmth and partially trying to comfort Nicole.

Nicole ducked her head and kissed Waverly’s wet hair, her lips spreading warmth through Waverly’s head. “I love you too.” She didn’t move her lips, but looked up at Wynonna who was eyeing her suspiciously. She looked apologetically at her friend.

Then Wynonna leveled her gun at Nicole.

Waverly felt Nicole tense and looked up. “Wynonna, what are you doing?”

“Making sure she’s not a revenant,” Wynonna looked at Nicole dead in the eyes. She could see fear, but it wasn’t the kind of wild desperation most revenants exhibited. She had to be sure that her sister hadn’t been dating a revenant because she’d already lost one sister that way. “Touch the gun.”

Nicole understood that she needed to do it. She needed to do it not only for Wynonna’s satisfaction, but her own as well. She didn’t want to be the kind of monster she hunted. It was terrifying to think something like that may have been inside of her the whole time.

She slowly released Waverly and turned to face Peacemaker. She looked at Wynonna. “You gotta send me down if I’m one of them. I could turn at any-”

“No!” Waverly plead, standing next to Wynonna. When she saw the tears in both Nicole’s and Wynonna’s eyes, she knew they had both resolved to do it without her. “Please don’t! Even if she’s a revenant, she’s saved us both.”

“We don’t know when she could turn on us,” Wynonna spoke through gritted teeth.

Nicole’s hand was shaking when she reached for the gun. She paused for a moment knowing that what happened when she touched it was life and death and that either way she would do whatever it took to protect Waverly.

Waverly held her breath when Nicole’s hand neared the gun. She watched carefully as Nicole’s fingers wrapped around Peacemaker’s barrel. They were a pause. They all waited for a few seconds before Waverly let out her breath.

“Okay,” Wynonna took Peacemaker back and holstered the gun. “You’re not a revenant.” She sniffled and wiped her eyes. “What are you?”

Nicole shook her head. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“But neither of your guesses are as good as mine,” Waverly moved back to Nicole and wrapped herself around Nicole to get warm again. “So take me home and we’ll figure it out together.”

Nicole looked down and saw Waverly looking up at her with all the love and support in the world. She was scared and confused, but Waverly’s smile told her they’d be alright.


End file.
